Over time, as part of the natural aging process, it is common for the skin of a person's upper eyelid to sag or droop. This not only can be unattractive, other consequences result as well, including impairment of vision. Loose, sagging or drooping eyelid skin can also interfere with the proper application of eye makeup.
Surgical techniques have been developed for alleviating the condition, the most common being the surgical removal of some of the upper eyelid. Any surgical procedure has its risks. Furthermore, such procedures can be relatively expensive. For this reason, there are many persons who choose to avoid the surgical option.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,347, issued Feb. 21, 1984, discloses a non-surgical approach for temporarily correcting eyelid skin droop. According to this patent the eyelid skin is stretched and a narrow, curved, adhesive strip having adhesive on both sides is applied to the skin. The skin is adhesively secured to both sides of the strip. Some of the skin is folded back upon itself with its edge along the bottom edge of the adhesive strip to form an artificial supra tarsal fold which is deeper and higher than the natural fold.
Such a device is somewhat difficult to apply and one has to have a major sagging problem in order for the procedure to be applicable. The double-sided adhesive causes some discomfort due to the restriction of movement of the skin and one cannot apply makeup to the device itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,307, issued Aug. 8, 1989, discloses an alternative approach wherein liquid adhesive is applied to the eyelid skin and the eyelid manipulated to adhesively secure together folded portions of the skin. Again one is presented with the situation of having the skin on both sides of the fold secured against relative movement. A certain degree of discomfort is likely to result. Furthermore, the application of the adhesive can be difficult for an untrained individual, possibly even requiring a specialized tool as shown in the patent. There is the potential for unsightly over-application of the adhesive and adhesive removal can be a problem.
A search directed to the present invention also located the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,925, issued May 13, 1980, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,483, issued Mar. 31, 1987, the disclosure of the latter being closely related to the approach disclosed in above-described U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,347.
The invention disclosed and claimed herein is not taught or suggested by the above-referenced patents.